SOUTH ASIAN JOURNAL OF POPULATION AND HEALTH; Vol - 6, No - 1

This paper aims to have a view of the immunization coverage and determinants of immunization coverage of under five children in Bangladesh using the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey-2007 data. Bivariate analysis is performed to determine association between immunization status and possible determinants followed by fitting an ordinal logistic regression model to assess the effects of those variables. Among the selected independent variables, mother’s occupation, mothers’ education, mother’s age, preceding birth interval, economic condition of household, region of residence, father’s education, number of children alive and division showed statistically significant association with immunization status.

THE STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN LIVELIHOOD STRATEGIES OF THE DEFORESTED VILLAGERS: A STUDY OF A VILLAGE IN NORTHERN-PART OF BANGLADESH

Written by: MD. FAKHAR UDDIN and SANJAY KRISHNO BISWAS

In Bangladesh we see that many villages are going with its traditional ways of livelihood for its betterment but in a deforested region traditional mode of livelihood do not exist. This study is carried out in a northern deforested village of Bangladesh. This paper explore the structural changes of people’s livelihood strategies through the explanation of socio-cultural condition, resources availability, past and present condition of some major resources and operational change in people’s living activities because of deforestation and other reasons. It also presents the important suggestion of the villagers to solve existing problematic situations. This study examines villagers’ perceptions, thoughts and attitudes. This study is a qualitative exploration where researchers use qualitative data collection techniques and tools such as In-depth interview, unstructured descriptive observation and so on.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC DIFFERENTIALS IN FERTILITY PREFERENCES AND BEHAVIOUR IN BANGLADESH

Written by: MD. ISLAM UDDIN and SYEDA SANJIDA ISLAM

This paper examine the fertility preference and fertility behaviour in Bangladesh by desired number of children, children everborn and number of living children.The data for the study come from the 2007 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey(BDHS).The outcomes indicate that demand for high number of children is believed to be a major reason for high fertility levels in Bangladesh. The present study investigates the fertility preferences and fertility behaviour of the women, and how they vary with differences in their socio-economic and demographic characteristics in Bangladesh. The study found that despite the preferred family size (2.28) being quite high, it exceeded by the actual family size (2.77). The actual number of children the women who was not a product of her personal choices and decision alone but an outcome of interaction among a complex set of factors, including social, cultural, economic, religious and demographic aspects of life. The factors that affected the fertility preference and behaviour most were the educational level of the women, and her preferred number of sons. Based on the findings of the study, this study suggests an emphasis on female education and promotion of gender equity as means to lower the existing high levels of fertility in the country.

NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, SANITARY AND HYGIENE PRACTICE OF THE UNMARRIED ADOLESCENT GIRL IN A SLUM OF DHAKA CITY

Written by: NAFIS MD. IRFAN and MD. AMINUL HAQUE BHUYAN

A descriptive study was carried out among 80 unmarried adolescent girls living in a slum of Dhaka city. The objective of the study was to assess the nutritional knowledge, sanitary and hygiene practice among them. The result shows that around 38% of the respondents were in class 1-5. Most of the respondent’s father works at shop (25%) while majority of the mothers (77.5) were house wife. Only 1.2% and 8.8%of the respondents had correct knowledge about exclusive breast feeding and colostrum feeding. Only 15%, 7.5% and 20% of the adolescent girls answered that they had correct knowledge about energy yielding, body building and body protecting food respectively. The overall sanitary and hygiene practice was not good among respondents. 88.8% respondent washed hands before eating, while 73.8% respondents washed hands before cooking in food preparatory phase. Only 63.8% defecates in sanitary latrine where as 66.2% of the respondent always use sandal for going to toilet or outside. Again 92.5% of the respondents used cloth and not a single one used sanitary pad during menstrual cycle. The study depicts that there is an urgent need of nutritional advocacy among adolescent slum girls as well as creation of appropriate sanitation facilities for them in order to sustain better nutritional habits amongst them.

FACTORS INFLUENCING WOMEN’S INTENTION TO DESIRE FOR CHILDREN IN BANGLADESH: A MULTINOMIAL LOGISTIC REGRESSION APPROACH

Written by: MASHFIQUL HUQ CHOWDHURY and DELUAR J. MOLOY

Bangladesh aims to achieve replacement level fertility by 2015 (MOHFW, 2009). The National Population Policy of Bangladesh promotes a two-child family norm and emphasizes a dissemination of the message - not more than two children; one is better (MOHFW, 2009). Recent trend of fertility decline in Bangladesh is impressive but not enough to attain stable population. The aim of this study is to isolate potential determinants of desire for more children and provide recommendations to eradicate them and accelerating fertility decline to achieve replacement level. In this study 4,330 ever married women having two children are considered. First bivariate analysis was applied to examine the association between desire for children and women’s demographic, socio-economic and cultural characteristics. Then multinomial logistic regression has been performed to quantify the simultaneous effect of key socio-economic and demographic factors. Multinomial logit approach efficiently determined few key covariates namely age of the respondents, age at first birth, sex preference, contraceptive use, mass media exposure, place of residence, and division that are significantly associated with desire for more children. These findings suggest that government should take all necessary steps by focusing on all these identified predictors and should highlight to the women that limiting family size has positive effects on the mother’s health, domestic peace, happiness and wellbeing.

A STUDY ON THE DEMOGRAPHIC, SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL DETERMINANTS OF CHILDBEARING IN BANGLADESH

Childbearing is generally considered as an important and major determinant of large family size and rapid population growth. Bearing more children produces substantial risks to the health of the mothers and the children. The aim of this study is to examine the demographic, socio-economic and cultural factors for childbearing differentials among the ever married women in Bangladesh. This study uses secondary data from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS), 2011. The analysis is confined to ever-married women of reproductive age (17,842). First bivariate analysis (One-way ANOVA) was applied to examine the association between number of living children and women’s demographic, socio-economic and cultural characteristics. Besides bivariate analysis the net effect of each predictor variable on the dependent variable after controlling for the effect of other predictors has also measured through multivariate analysis. A generalized linear model with Poisson log link function is used to determine the key socio economic and demographic factors of childbearing in Bangladesh. Mother’s age group, age at first birth, age at first marriage, highest educational attainment, division, media exposure, religion, place of residence and sex preference are found to be significantly associated with bearing more children among the ever married women in Bangladesh. These findings suggest that government should continue its effort to ensure higher education, to promote to delay age at marriage and age at first birth.

EFFECTS OF PHOTOTHERAPY ON NEONATAL HYPERBILIRUBIANAEMIA IN GENERAL HOSPITAL, KUSHTIA.

Hyperbilirubianaemia is common in neonatal period among term, preterm & low birth weight baby and it may be defined as a condition in which the serum bilirubin level is more than 10mg/dl in the preterm and 12mg/dl in the full term babies. Clinical profiles of 112 patients of neonatal Jaundice were studied. Occurrence of neonatal hyberbilirubinemia was 18.5%. Among 112 patients 76(76.86%) were males and 36(32.14%) were females. 75(66.96%) were full term and 37(33.04%) were preterm. Sixty two (55-36%) were normal weight babies and 50(44.44%) were of low birth weight. Jaundice appeared within 3 days of life was found 52(46.43%) and jaundice appeared within 3 to 5 days was 47(4 1.96%). In most of the cases (61.60%) initial bilirubin was 10 to 13 mg/dl. The mean initial bilirubin level was 12.59 mg/dl and mean bilirubin at the end of phototherapy was 8.40mg/dl. The rate of fall of serum bilirubin observed was 1.55mg/dl per 12 hours. Complications of phototherapy were found minimum. Out of 112 patient 111 (99.4%) improved and 1(0.89%) expired. Death rate was low.

BANGLADESHI ORIGIN PEOPLE LIVING IN THE UNITED KINGDOM: PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS BANGLADESH IN TERMS OF VISITS, REMITTANCES AND INVESTMENT

About half a million Bangladeshi origin people living in the United Kingdom (UK) either temporarily and/or permanently since long. But very unfortunately, flow of remittances and volume of investment of those expatriates towards Bangladesh is very low according to the large number of emigrants Bangladeshi and high per capita income in the UK. The objectives of this study is to know the present relationship that the Bangladeshi expatriates in the UK hold towards Bangladesh in different aspects like visiting Bangladesh, flow of sending remittances along with their investment situation in Bangladesh and their future plan to keeping connection with Bangladesh. The sample size of the study was 400 and the primary data was collected through direct interviewing respondents following Snow ball sampling technique. The covered areas of the fieldwork were Brick Lane, Algate East, South Bethnal Green and White Chapel of London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. From the study, it was found that 55.50% respondents’ visit Bangladesh, 47.75% remit money and only 15.75% have been invested either in productive or in non-productive sectors in Bangladesh. It was also observed that the respondents are eager to keep connection with Bangladesh under the condition of existence of safe, secured and attractive environment in Bangladesh.